AS SOMEONE WHO loves theme parks and
movies, I have been particularly interested in
the growing trend at some parks to transform
movie experiences into live attractions. When
I recently walked through Walt Disney World’s
New Fantasyland and the Universal Orlando
Resort, I found myself walking into live stories.

Expanding Universal’s universe

Not resting on its 2010 Harry Potter and
the Wizarding World laurels, Universal has
been busy upgrading or creating new attractions along this movie-to-attraction theme.
;e Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man, one
of its most popular theme park experiences, is
now mind-blowingly better. All-new 4K digital high-de;nition animation, a new highly
sophisticated 3-D projection system, a new
music score and new high-tech 3-D glasses let
guests experience “spider ;ight” like Spider-Man himself.

“;e Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man
was so wonderful before,” says comic book
icon and Spider-Man co-creator Stan Lee. “But
now—with all of the new technology that’s

been added—it is indescribably spectacular.”
And, in the coming months, Universal
will be introducing another major new ;lm-based attraction. A $100 million 3-D ride
based on the Transformers movies will bring
the intergalactic battle between the Autobots
and the Decepticons to Florida in summer
2013. Visitors will come face to face with
Megatron, dodge explosions and attacks by
the Decepticons and ;ght to save mankind
alongside Optimus Prime.

The largest expansion project in Walt
Disney World’s 41-year history, the New
Fantasyland doubles the size of the original.
Sitting just past Cinderella Castle, the new
area features two sections: Enchanted Forest,
where visitors will ;nd Belle from Beauty and
the Beast and Ariel from ;e Little Mermaid,
and Storybook Circus, which is inspired by
the Disney ;lm Dumbo.

“It’s really about immersing people in a
number of stories, characters and music that
they love,” says Walt Disney Parks and Resorts

UNIVERSAL ORLANDO RESORT
WALT DISNE Y RESOR T

Chairman Tom Staggs.

A big part of that immersive quality is the
level of detail that Disney brings to, well, everything (even the wait lines at many of the new
attractions have been designed to entertain
adults or provide play for restless youngsters).
From the forest setting and Beast’s Castle, to
Maurice’s Cottage—which creates an experience where the magic mirror becomes a portal
into Beast’s Castle, and guests can have engaging encounters with Belle and a startlingly realistic three-dimensional Lumière—no element
is too tiny to overlook.

“Disney is known for layering in thedetail,” says Chris Beatty, creative director ofNew Fantasyland. “Our goal has been to blowaway not only casual fans of the ;lms, but alsothe die-hard fans who know those ;lms for-ward and backward, and who notice even themost subtle details.”“We live to get even the smallest detailsright,” adds Bruce Vaughn, chief creativeexecutive of Walt Disney Imagineering. “Eventhe projected snow that can be seen fallingoutside the windows [of Beast’s castle] wasinspired by the movie.”“We even spent time with some of the;lms’ original animators, who o;ered theirvery personal perspectives on these storiesand characters,” says Beatty. “All of thatresearch was invaluable as we worked to turnthose very familiar ;lm worlds into immedi-ately recognizable physical worlds.” C